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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23087143">Alley Cat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zy_Khrymzynn/pseuds/Zy_Khrymzynn'>Zy_Khrymzynn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Tags to Be Added, F/M, Identity Reveal, drones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:41:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,515</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23087143</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zy_Khrymzynn/pseuds/Zy_Khrymzynn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Drones. Why hadn't he thought of that? Well Nathalie had always been the one that had the best ideas; Catalyst/Scarlet Moth, some of her sentimonsters, had all been her ideas.<br/>OR:<br/>Miraculous magic doesn't take into account modern technology.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Additional relationship tags to be added - Relationship, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Juleka Couffaine &amp; Rose Lavillant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Novel Idea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Drones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, sir. Drones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In all honesty, the suggestion from Nathalie shouldn’t have been surprising. She had always been the more technically-minded one. It had been his purpose to be the main miraculous-user and send out Akumas, and she would use the peacock miraculous only occasionally, as it was damaged. He had considered activating her as Catalyst a second time, but accepting an Akuma puts strain on an individual (A reason why he tries not to re-akumatize people if he can. Also, a new enemy is harder to defeat for Ladybug and Cat Noir.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think you can discover Ladybug and Cat Noir’s secret identities with drones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. I already have two drones.” She replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well then, I think it’s time for me to send out an Akuma.” He walked over to the portrait of his wife, his reason for doing this, and pressed the necessary secret buttons to descend into his “observatory.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nooroo.” He called out as he descended, and the named kwami came out from wherever he had been hiding before. “Dark wings, rise!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though he had transformed enough times that he had lost count, it still felt weird. As a fashion designer, the costume definitely wasn’t his style at all. At least there was only one person that knew he wore this fashion disaster. Nooroo had said that the miraculous identified what he “really wanted”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His platform disturbed all the butterflies in the observatory as he descended. As Hawk Moth, he could detect strong emotions of negativity; anger, sadness, or anything else that he could expand on. He didn’t want to waste a second. While a more rational side of him said that he should look for someone with strong emotions, as they made stronger akumas, another side of him told him to seize the advantage Nathalie gave him (the drones), as soon as he could. That side won out, and he reached out over Paris, searching for emotions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few minutes later, he detected someone who had been kicked out of a bar for being too intoxicated. He’ll be a weak akuma, but the akuma doesn’t matter, as long as Nathalie can deploy her drones. He trusts her to be surreptitious enough to follow the two superheroes without them noticing, especially if they’re focused on the Akuma.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sends out his akuma without his usual monologue, his mind focused on finding out the secret identity of the miraculous wielders. When the Akuma finally reached his target, all he told him was that he was the “intoxicator”, he could zap people to make them drunk, and that he needed to take Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculouses. There was the faint chance this Akuma could actually work, so he might as well give out the commands. Plus if he didn’t, those heroes running around might get suspicious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Intoxicator, I am Hawk Moth. People have condemned you because of your drunkenness, now you can make other people act drunk in return. All I need you to do in return is get me Ladybug and Cat Noir’s Miraculouses.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the more interesting aspects of the butterfly miraculous was that he could observe what was going on through the eyes of whoever he had evilized. This specific version had a horrific costume made of a beer keg, and it was just a beer-themed mess.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The heroes had arrived on the scene, dodging the blasts that sluggishly zapped out in their direction. Every so often, out of the corner of the akuma’s eyes, he could see the two drones Nathalie had bought and sent out, stealthily staying at the very edge of the battle. They didn’t even have to move, as the akuma he had sent out wasn’t really that mobile. While the people who he used an akuma on had enhanced physical attributes, they were almost entirely wasted on the guy, as </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> physical was enhanced, meaning this guy was almost blackout drunk at this point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made a mental reminder to never akmatize a drunk person ever again, as they made terrible akumas. Well that was if he needed to send out an additional akuma. He had been planning something new ever since he failed as Scarlet Moth. It did involve using the Peacock miraculous, which he really didn’t want to do…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, it would be all worth it. Nathalie should be healthy enough… hopefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt the connection to the akuma sever suddenly. Ah, it seems like Ladybug and Cat Noir managed to defeat his akuma. Well, let’s see what Nathalie has planned. “Nooroo! Dark wings, fall.” he said aloud, and the costume retracted into the purple jewel he hid underneath his tie. He ascended back into his personal study. He had instructed Nathalie to not call or inform him about the heroes unless she discovered their secret identities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He returned back to his latest piece. A foreign band (Ukrainian or Polish or something Eastern European), had requested some “new threads” for a performance in France. What he had in mind involved the idea of the band’s basic colors; white, red, and black. Colors that could be blended together pretty easily. Black goes with damn near everything, white is almost the same, and red goes with quite a few things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The current idea he was working with was primarily black and red (to fit with the “edgy” theme that they had going on.) and the white was the highlights and finer designs. What he was working with had also included the design of gold threading to make it stand out more. Despite how much time he dedicated to being Hawk Moth, he still couldn’t resist going back to his designs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For some reason Marinette Dupain-Cheng popped into his mind. Despite being so young, she did have a talent for design. It might be a good idea to get her onboard the Agreste brand. It helped that she and her son had… something going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His phone rang his pocket, and he pulled it out immediately. Nathalie had sent him quite a few messages in quick succession.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:34]: </b>
  <span>I managed to get some information.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:34]: </b>
  <span>Unfortunately I couldn’t catch Labybug, she moved away too quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:34]: </b>
  <span>I did manage to find the secret identity of Cat Noir though…</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:35]: </b>
  <span>You should see this, Mr. Agreste.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:35]: </b>
  <em>
    <span>video-attachment-14B4-J28k-sC39</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was serious. Nathalie never called him “Mr. Agreste” unless it was something serious. With some hesitation, he opened the video.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a short clip, only thirty seconds long. He clicked play, a strange feeling coursing through him. Cat Noir jumped into an alleyway, far away from most of everything that went along. The hero said his detransforming phrase (“Plagg, claws in '') and he watched as the hero returned to their civilian identity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He paused the video as soon as he saw who it was. Blond hair, green eyes… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His son, Adrien, was Cat Noir. The holder of the miraculous of destruction had been in his house all of this time? What are the odds that something like this would happen?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, calm yourself Gabriel. That’s all in the past at this point. Now that the cat’s out of the bag (heh), he has to plan for the future.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [15:37]: </b>
  <span>What should we do about this Nathalie?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:37]: </b>
  <span>Do you want me to collect his Miraculous using a Sentimonster? I think I have just the one that’ll work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [15:37]: </b>
  <span>No, you don’t need to use the Peacock, I’ll see if I can </span>
</p><p>
  <span>collect it normally.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:38]: </b>
  <span>If you insist Sir.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:38]: </b>
  <span>I will keep it on standby though, just in case.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [15:38]: </b>
  <span>If you think it’s necessary.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [15:39]: </b>
  <span>Also make a spot in my calendar to contact a Marinette </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dupain-Cheng, that would be great.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:39]: </b>
  <span>Is this HM business or?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [15:40]: </b>
  <span>No, I don’t think she’s LB. I’ve been following her designs </span>
</p><p>
  <span>and think she might be good for the brand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [15:40]: </b>
  <span>Very well sir. I’ll reach out to her and see what time</span>
</p><p>
  <span>works in both her and your schedules.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He went over through the mansion from his study to Adrien’s room. He heard some shuffling around, and that definitely meant that he was in there. Maybe. He wasn’t sure about much of anything anymore, ever since he found out his son was the superhero he had been indirectly fighting for at least a year now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But maybe he can use this to his advantage. If he shows </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> he became Hawk Moth, then his son would have no choice but to go along with his plan. Nathalie had already brought up the idea of Adrien joining their team. But now that he found out his son has a Miraculous of his own...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He passed by Nathalie on the way to Adrien’s bedroom. “I think It’s time for him to be introduced to the reason behind all of this. Maybe that way he’ll understand.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re sure about this Sir. I’ll be on call as Mayura if Adrien decides to be… difficult.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very well, if you insist Nathalie.” He reluctantly handed the peacock miraculous to her. “But don’t do this until it’s absolutely necessary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded. The peacock miraculous had been damaged for quite some time, and using it endangered the wearer. He had attempted before to combine the powers of Nooroo and Duusu, it had landed him in the hospital for a week, and he was no longer strong enough to ever try such a thing again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knocked on Adrien’s door, and a second later his son came spilling out of his room, looking like he had just ran a great distance (And that’s exactly what happened, although he wasn’t about to reveal that to his son just yet.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, come with me please. It’s time I show you something.” He said, and then promptly walked in the direction of the study. The following footsteps showed that his son was following. Out of the corner of the eye, he noticed the ring on his son’s hand. It wasn’t black, as he had thought it was, but a dull grey. He hadn’t noticed it before, but that’s probably where the miraculous is held. It could be the magic surrounding the miraculous, that he didn’t notice it before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never noticed the ring on your finger Adrien. I don’t remember buying it for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien tensed up behind him, grabbing the hand with the ring on it with his other hand. “I… found it online, and it looked cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I take a look at it? It looks quite elegant.” An innocent question, but one that would be hard to answer innocently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d rather not, Father. It’s gotten to the point where it’s difficult to remove and put back on.” Adrien responded after a short pause.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very well, it’s not that important.” It </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> very important, but he didn’t want to seem too interested in the ring, making his son suspicious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was taking a big gamble here, but it should be worth it. While he would’ve wanted Ladybug’s miraculous first, as she’s the only one that can purify Akumas and reverse the damages from the battles, Cat Noir was still a major fighter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, there’s still all of those temporary heroes around, but he’ll take care of that later. The more those heroes went out, the greater the chance of him finding the Guardian. And when he finds the guardian…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He will win.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, it’s time I tell you about one of the most important projects I’ve been working on for years.” He said as the two of them reached his study. He approached the painting of his wife, and pressed sections of it in a specific way, a part of the floor opened revealing a platform. He led his son onto the platform, and he followed a second later. The Platform was keyed to a specific weight and above, and the two of them were enough to propel the platform down. Nathalie had programmed it earlier to the point where it wouldn’t go to his observatory, and would instead go to the room where he had Emilie…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe then his son will see the reason he sends out the Akumas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The elevator-type platform lowered down into the room. He could see how nervous Adrien is out of the corner of his eye. That’s understandable. This is an unfamiliar part of the mansion. The occasional butterfly flitted around the expansive chamber. Maybe that would be enough of a hint.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they approached the Sarcophagus he had stored Emilie, the thing keeping her body preserved, he called out to Adrien. “Come here Adrien I need to show you something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He saw all the conflicted emotions on Adrien’s face. Time to use this, plant the ideas in his head. “There’s a legend that says if you obtain the miraculous of creation and the miraculous of destruction, you can gain enough cosmic power to gain a wish. My wish would be to return life to my beloved Emilie, and I have been working towards that ever since my trip to Tibet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He saw the look on his son’s face slowly morph to one of realization. “Yes, I know where that ring has come from Adrien. So, give it to me and everything will be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That hadn’t been what he was expecting. “No? What are you going to do about it Adrien? You forget I’m the one that controls your life.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A kwami flew out from his son’s jacket pocket. His son yelled the transformation phrase (“Plagg, claws out!” He’d have to remember that.) and a second later Cat Noir was staring him in the face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looks like this is going to get difficult. No need to risk Nathalie’s health over this. His own kwami flew out from wherever the thing went. “Nooroo, dark wings, rise.” And another second later, he had transformed into his form as Hawk Moth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of turning to fight, Cat Noir ran up the elevator and away. He tried to follow, but from the little he had translated from the Grimoire, the butterfly miraculous did not grant as much strength or speed as the other miraculouses did, based on it’s goal of being a long-range combatant, sending out what were originally called “Champions” in the wielder’s stead instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’ll deal with Adrien later. He can’t run forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps he should send out another Akuma later, so Nathalie could send out only a single drone this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hopefully he can get around this… minor bump in the road and continue for his goal.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Thank the Kwamis Nino is a Good Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Of course Nino is a good friend, what did you expect?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know I should have written more b/c of Coronavirus, but I didn't.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>“Nino, you don’t know how mad I am that I couldn’t get footage of the latest akuma attack for the ladyblog! It’s ridiculous!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Alya complained through the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well you have footage for all the rest of them, and the fact this attack lasted for this short of a time is a good thing, Alya!” He reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know what you’re saying, but it still makes me a teensy bit annoyed. Maybe I’ll try to get another exclusive interview with Ladybug or something similar.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok, just make sure to stay safe my dudette.” He had tried to stop her, but he had learned a long time ago there was no stopping her if there really was something she wanted to do, so he just went along with it and gave her gentle reminders.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’ll do my best. Anyways, I’m gonna hang out with Marianette, so have fun playing games or whatever.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, enjoy your time there!”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Will do!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> and then she hung up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alright Nino, let’s see… what do you have to do for the rest of today? Homework? It’s either done, or isn’t due until the next week. Chores? Nah, he had already done most of them. So what else…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well there had been this new tune he had heard from XY a while back. The guy’s music sucked, but he could see the base of something better there. It just needed some more </span>
  <em>
    <span>soul</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was about to start working on this newer mashup, but he got a call. He recognized the ringtone, it was the custom one that he set for Adrien. Not that he wasn’t complaining, but a call from Adrien at this hour was unusual.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But of course he accepted the call.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yo dude, what’s up? This is a strange hour to call.” He was genuinely curious. It was 17:45, about half an hour before he would usually eat dinner.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know this is kind of out of the blue, but would you mind if I crash at your place for a while?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien asked through the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, my dude. My folks are the best, they won’t mind! Sorry if this is a big issue, but what’s the reason for this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s a long story… and it’s going to be difficult to explain it all.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“No worries, man! You can tell everything later. How far out are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Not that far, I should be there in a couple of minutes.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alrighty, dude. I’ll see you in a few.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Sorry for putting pressure on you like this Nino. I know how difficult this would be for you.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem, man! Seriously it’s no big deal. I just need to tell my folks about this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Thanks for being such a good friend Nino.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like I said, no problem dude. See ya soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After hanging up he ran downstairs. “Hey mom, Adrien’s gonna crash here for a few days, is that OK?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mother looked up from his cooking. “Oh of course it is, Nino! I was always suspicious of his father anyways. He just had this… feel about him. He can stay as long as he wants.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh yeah, he forgot his mother used to work for Adrien’s dad. She left for greener pastures ten years ago, and apparently her quality of life has greatly improved.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*Knock knock knock*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could you see who it is?” His mother asked from the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ran to the door and looked through the peephole. Adrien was outside, looking much more bedraggled than he was expecting, although he did have a backpack. He opened the door quickly, grabbing his best friend and moving him inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok dude, dinner’s not going to be for another ten minutes or so, so we can get you set up in the spare room.” And he went upstairs in the direction of the spare room, gesturing for Adrien to follow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t mind, I’d like to set things up myself, if it’s not too much of a problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s fine, you look like you need some time for yourself. Just call me over if you need anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here’s the spare room, you can get everything ready if you like. Maman will call you down when it’s dinnertime.” He didn’t want to leave Adrien alone, but if the dude wanted alone time, he’d give it to him. “I’ll be in my room if you need me, second door on the right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok, sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien sagged down into the bed of the spare room. It wasn’t anything like his room back at the mansion, but this felt more like home than that place ever did. Plagg floated out from wherever he hid, and that’s when he realized he had a big problem. Namely, how he would get enough camembert to feed his kwami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adrien, if you're worried about feeding me, don’t. I’ve been in this situation before, not every holder was in the best place in life, or they were peasantry or something like that. I can take care of myself, I’ve done it before.” Plagg had not done this before, but he had never been in this situation before either, but the kwami buried those facts. “Don’t worry about it. Although you may not be able to transform immediately…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Plagg, I owe you one.” He trailed off, laying back down in the bed. “I think maybe I should tell Nino about everything. I think he should know. What do you think, Plagg?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kwami circled around lazily. “It’s your choice to reveal yourself or not. It could be dangerous to do so, but if you think he deserves to know, then the choice is ultimately up to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ok, Adrien, time to think about what would happen. Nino was pretty good at keeping secrets, although his one weakness might be Alya. Alya was sharp as a tack, she was pretty good at finding out when people are lying, and could weasel secrets out of almost everyone. It was almost like a talent, it’s pretty scary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would have to make sure that Nino could keep a secret from Alya. So he shot a text over to Nino.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Adrien_Agreste: </b>
  <span>Hey Nino, could you keep a secret from Alya.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Adrien_Agreste: </b>
  <span>You know, theoretically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nino_Lahiffe: </b>
  <span>What is this about Adrien?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Adrien_Agreste: </b>
  <span>I just want to make sure that you can.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nino_Lahiffe: </b>
  <span>I mean, I can… but what’s this about?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He swallowed a lump in his throat. Ugh, he really wanted to not go along with this, but he was already deep in this, but Nino deserved to know what’s going on, the complete truth about what’s going on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Adrien_Agreste: </b>
  <span>Just come to the spare room please.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A couple of seconds later, the door opened to reveal Nino standing there, with a questioning look on his face. “What is it dude?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Close the door please, this is sort of a big secret.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nino did as he had asked. “Ok dude, what’s this big secret that you have?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It has to do with the reason why I left my father’s mansion.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so he talked about how he had been summoned to a place where he saw his mother in stasis, how there were butterflies all around the place, and how he found out that his father was Hawk Moth, he had seen the transformation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nino was silent after he had stopped talking. He didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to reveal why or how he escaped Hawk Moth, but Nino deserved to know… Ugh, why was this so difficult to deal with? He had learned over time that nothing was as simple as it seemed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, so exactly how did  you escape Hawk Moth? It doesn’t make sense how that happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of telling Nino directly, he instead said his transformation phrase, and a second later he was standing there as Cat Noir. Another second later, he said the detransformation phrase, and he was standing there as Adrien Agreste. Plagg returned from the ring, and was now doing what he usually did, also known as just floating around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re actually Cat Noir? Huh, I never thought that you, of all people, would be that ridiculous hero running around making puns in a catsuit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know… it’s just… I feel so free when I’m Cat Noir. I mean, sure it’s ridiculous but now what do I do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well now that you’re free from your father, express yourself! I want to hear more of those perfect puns that you seem to like.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ok, that </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be intentional on Nino’s part. But he’ll take the bait anyway. “I think you mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>purr</span>
  </em>
  <span>fect puns.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nino lightly punched him. “Just like that dude. I want to see more of the real Adrien.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think that’s the real me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, dude. You’re expressing your true self when you’re anonymous.” and then Nino started chuckling to himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s so funny Nino?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So that’s why you have all those pictures of Ladybug on your phone. You aren’t as slick as you think you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You noticed?” He asked incredulously because he </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought</span>
  </em>
  <span> he hid looking at Ladybug between classes and during lunch. Because how could he not look at his Lady everyday?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, dude. You’re about as subtle as a neon pink elephant. I’m surprised more people didn’t notice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All this talk about school-related things made him think. “Hey so what about going to school? How is that going to work out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh don’t worry about it dude. We can talk about that sort of thing with my maman and pops. They know what they’re doing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Thanks for everything Nino.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like I’ve said before, it’s no problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then what he assumed to be Nino’s mother yelled that she had finished dinner. “Alright let’s eat.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Adrien, what was the reason that you finally left? If you don’t really want to say that’s fine, I know how stressful this can be.” Nino’s mom told him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” There were details that were involved he really didn’t want to talk about, because it would involve talking about some of the secrets. Oh shit… how, or what, would he say to Ladybug? He figured out the identity of Hawk Moth, but introducing this would be a delicate matter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok that’s fine dear, you can eat up now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nino’s mom was definitely a good cook. He had only a taste of what she could make, and it was excellent. Everything she made for this meal was amazing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your food is good Mrs. Lahiffe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why thank you Adrien! I’m not the best, but I do make sure to be at least competent in cooking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I think it’s amazing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what are you going to do about attending school? I mean, it’s a big risk to go but the choice is up to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He really </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> want to go back to school, but his father’s eyes could be anywhere, and going to and from a known location was a big danger. But he did want to get an education later…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I’ll stay here for a while, hope for things to calm down a bit.” The odds of that happening were minimal, especially because of the miraculous he had. If Hawk Moth had been hunting after his miraculous for about a year now, then a few weeks wouldn’t make the difference.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After everything was wrapped up, he was in the guest bedroom, alone with his thoughts. How did his father find out about his identity? The akuma wasn’t it, there was no way that it was the one that did it. The akuma was so drunk it could barely walk, the only thing that it could do was throw slow-moving beams that made people drunk. They were slow-moving enough that even ordinary people had a chance of dodging it if they moved fast enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So there must be some other source. He should warn Ladybug the next time they’re on patrol, because some outside source revealing their identities to Hawk Moth is dangerous.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He definitely needs to talk to Ladybug.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Reveal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The reveal. It may not be what you're expecting, but it happened.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I decided to give these characters things like:<br/>Common sense<br/>Empathy<br/>Actual Intelligent Thoughts</p><p>I think it went well.<br/>Also, sorry for this chapter taking so f*cking long. This chapter was one of the most difficult to write, and then I started writing SWKP, and that took up a lot of time (just shy of 100k words in three months, so I basically wrote a novel in three weeks)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Thankfully, the next patrol they had planned was the very next day. He spent the time he would have used to go to classes and instead used the time to finish up what school work he could and then help Nino’s mom around the house. It was killing time, basically. But what else could he do?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then he had to deal with the reveal and whatever the fallout from it was. The Guardian had said they would have to give up their miraculouses if they discovered each other’s secret identity because there was a potential for Hawk Moth to use this information against them. But it had failed, because Hawk Moth, his father, already figured out his secret identity. He wondered how it was done. It wasn’t the Akuma, because it was a silly and quite weak one, basically a whitewash. Maybe there were hidden cameras that his father had access to or something? He should tell Ladybug to look out for where to detransform. If he couldn’t protect himself, then at least he can protect His Lady. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So in order to transform into Cat Noir, he jumped out of the spare room window, climbed down some walls, and other such things that ended with him in an alleyway somewhere. He looked around, and then he looked up and around the sky. He was grasping at straws, but you could never be too cautious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A second and a burst of green light later, and now Cat Noir was standing there, using his staff and enhanced strength to leap up onto the dense rooftops of Paris and start running along them. He had left a message for Ladybug to meet on top of the Rue Joseph Kosma Bakery. It was an out-of-the-way place, nice and secretive, the perfect place for this type of conversation. All the businesses on this street were all going to be closed, so nobody would be out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He arrived first, landing on the roof and retracting his staff. Hopefully Ladybug would understand what he was saying, and hopefully she understood his logic. Because if Hawk Moth knew his identity, but she didn’t… It’s just not fair to Ladybug. Plus, he really wanted to know who exactly was the person behind the mask. Ladybug was so confident, sure of herself, and he really wanted to know who exactly she really was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t even been sitting on the rooftop for a minute before he heard the telltale whizzing-whirring noise that was Ladybug’s Yo-Yo (He always thought that her having a yo-yo was weird, but hey the string was strong enough to cut through buildings, so who was he to judge?) and a few seconds later Ladybug herself appeared. As much as he wanted to wax poetic and lace it with puns, this was serious. As much as he didn’t want to be serious, Ladybug deserved him being serious for once.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it, Cat Noir?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well…”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Adrien had not been at school today.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was one of the first things that Marionette noticed. But it was fine! Maybe he could be sick, or something? Nino had already told Alya (and through Alya, her) that Adrien was sick. But she felt something was off. She had seen Nino lie before, and she felt like Nino was hiding something. But, it’s not something to be worried about for now. She hadn’t been able to call Adrien yet, but he’s probably really sick!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she got back to her bakery, apparently Tikki said that Cat Noir sent him a message. How exactly Tikki knew that she wasn’t sure, but she trusted the Kwami. She transformed, and checked the message. Apparently Cat Noir wanted to meet up on the top of the Rue Joseph Kosma Bakery, a bakery that was in a quaint little corner of Paris, at the beginning of her patrol. So she decides to go to see Cat Noir. The Alley cat was a lot more serious than she was expecting, so she </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span> something was up. For bug’s sake, the entirety of the message didn’t even have a pun! So she went in the direction of the bakery as soon as she could. Travelling as fast as she could, avoiding her usual routes in favor of direct travel. In the span of a few minutes she reached the rooftop of the specific bakery. Cat Noir was sitting cross-legged on the roof, looking like he was deep in thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it, Cat Noir?” She asked, almost hesitantly. She had </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> seen Cat Noir like this before. Something was definitely off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, because of current events, I think it’s time to share our secret identities.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She immediately froze when she heard that. “Cat Noir, don’t be silly. You know that we can’t risk revealing our secret identities to each other, because we’ll have to give up our miraculouses-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think the Guardian will make an exception for it.” He said, cutting her off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But what about Hawk Moth figuring out our secret identities?” She asked. Part of it was out of legitimate concern, but the second part was her being worried about </span>
  <em>
    <span>who</span>
  </em>
  <span> the person behind Cat Noir was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well he already figured out what my secret identity was.” She immediately froze at that. How? “I don’t know how he did it, but he found out somehow. I’d tell you more, but we should reveal our secret identities first, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She mentally weighed the pros and cons. If Hawk Moth already knew his secret identity, then he was already a target. And if she knew his civilian identity, and he knew hers, they could protect each other out of costume. The Guardian didn’t know what they were going through, and she had the sneakiest suspicion that he had no idea what Cat Noir was doing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ok then, I… let’s do this. Let’s close our eyes, say our detransformation phrase, and then open our eyes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds fine to me My Lady.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And with that, she closed her eyes. And then she said “Tikki, spots off.” and she felt the transformation leave her. At the same time, she heard “Plagg, claws in.” from Cat Noir.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opened her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien Agreste was sitting in front of her, in the exact same position Cat Noir was once in, Plagg floating beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien Agreste was Cat Noir? How were they the same person? Sure they </span>
  <em>
    <span>looked</span>
  </em>
  <span> alike, to the point where Alya had said how similar he looked, multiple times, but she had just ignored it. Well looks like she was right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But how? Cat Noir was an easy-going jokester whose speech was layered with puns and stupid jokes at every turn. Adrien had never, not once, said a single pun where she could hear it. Was her view of Adrien false? The Adrien she had built up in her head was a gorgeous, proper gentleman she could barely approach. But no, the real Adrien ran around Paris in a catsuit, cracking jokes and idiotic puns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She needed some time to think about all of this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She then saw him open his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Marianette?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aand there goes her mind. She remembered the lessons that this one yoga teacher taught her, breath in and out and think rationally.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Adrien?” She managed to ask. Just barely. Her mind was screaming internally right now and her thoughts were running a mile a minute, and she was somehow not freaking out. Thank the Kwami’s that she’s outwardly calm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then Adrien started laughing. She could tell it was a nervous laughter, and she couldn’t help but join in when she realized just how </span>
  <em>
    <span>silly</span>
  </em>
  <span> this whole situation was. They interacted everyday, and they didn’t even know it!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they started to calm down, she realized something. “So you said Hawk Moth figured out who you really are, did you find out who he was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She regretted asking the question the moment she saw Adrien tense up, and then start shaking ever so slightly. She moved almost without thinking, embracing him in a hug. Even an hour ago, she would be freaking out by the very </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought</span>
  </em>
  <span> of hugging her longtime crush, but now, the only things rushing through her mind was making him feel better, and fixing her mistake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My… father…” She heard Adrien whisper. It wasn’t difficult to piece together what he meant. Gabriel Agreste, Adrien’s father, was Hawk Moth. No wonder he was like this. He didn’t have a home. “Are you staying somewhere safe?” She asked, in a similarly low whisper. She felt some wetness on her shoulder, and then another whisper from Adrien. “Yes…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She could just barely make it out, but she definitely heard it. “Good.” She replied. That’s all she cared about right now, that Adrien was safe. Her life had turned and flipped upside down, and even more for Adrien.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To hell with her crush, it can wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t know exactly how long she was there, but they eventually separated. She knew this was nowhere near the end for everything, but now was not the time for this. “I’ll see you soon?” She asked hopefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien gave her a light smile. “Anytime, Bugaboo. And watch where you transform, I think that’s how I was caught.” One transformation later, and he disappeared into the city. She looked around and didn’t see any security cameras, but Cat No- Adrien’s warning started making her paranoid. “Tikki, could you look around for any security cameras?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Kwami returned a few minutes later. “I didn’t find anything, Marinette. You’re good to go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright! Tikki, spots on!”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>He couldn’t believe that Marinette was Ladybug. It felt like a veil was lifted, and he could make connections he hadn’t been able to make before. It made sense why he always saw her at the school, and pretty much every time she darted off to do something or other during an Akuma attack, Ladybug would appear only a few minutes later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, using the fact his costume was pretty much all black to scout out areas to detransform without being noticed, and then get enough of a disguise (as in, hoodie) that he wouldn’t be noticed. It was surprising how much a change of clothes, a slight change in posture, and messing up his hair on purpose made him blend into the background. Also, why would Adrien Agreste be walking around town? It didn’t add up in people’s heads, and his father wanted to settle this matter privately, so people would think that everything’s fine. Also, a pair of relatively cheap sunglasses, so he could look around without it being seen on security cameras that his eyes were moving.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Honestly, taking in everything about his appearance, he looks more like a druggie than a model, which was what he wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nino’s house had a back entrance that was… difficult to get to effectively. He had to run through someone else’s yard and then jump a fence. Spending time as Cat Noir definitely made him more athletic than he used to be, so jumping the fence was pretty easy. It was a chain-link fence as well, so he used the links as hand and footholds to climb up the 2 and a half meter fence, and then swing his legs over the other side, taking care to not rip his jeans on the top of the fence. He climbed down the remaining way a little bit, and then jumped down the rest, making sure to crouch down to reduce the impact. He fished the key out from the fake rock it was hidden in, and unlocked the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude! Where were you?” Nino called as he entered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told Ladybug who I really was.” He said, flopping down on the couch in the living room. “I think it went well. It’s hard to say. Also, I know who Ladybug is, and I was definitely surprised.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Woah! So who’s Ladybug? I’d like to know the dudette behind the mask.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t tell, it’s her secret to tell you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Understandable dude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He definitely needed some time to think about this. It would probably come crashing down in the future, but hey, that’s a problem for future Adrien.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey! If there's any writers out there, I have an idea for a collab ML fic. <br/>We're fixing the whole damn thing. From the ground up.<br/>Current ideas:<br/>Fixing the mess of a "plot" (calling it a plot is generous), while keeping the monster-of-the-week vibe.<br/>Identity reveal mid season 2<br/>Less stupid Lila Rossi<br/>Less stupid everyone in general tbh.<br/>I've got a discord if anyone's interested, I'll drop it in the next chapter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Doing the Motions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Just because there was a monumental reveal doesn't mean Hawky Mothy will stop sending Akumas...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I'm not rewriting Miraculous Ladybug.<br/>I just don't have enough time.<br/>Anyways, I'm a part of a discord server. https://discord.gg/M9BWvKY. Join if you want. Or don't. Idc.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Turns out realizing her crush was secretly the person that had been flirting with her in costume (with puns!) for a little over a year now wasn’t the best for her sanity, and didn’t magically make her any less clumsy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There wasn’t really anyone she could tell the problem she was having. Nino knew some of it, but exactly how much she wasn’t sure, that would be a conversation she’d have in the future. Yeah, the future! She’d probably continue on with the explanation that Adrien’s sick. As much as she hates lying to Alya, the less people that know the truth, the better. And maybe she should also set her story straight with Nino. It might be her selfish side talking, but she did want to be a better liar than Lila.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran up to the door of the school, only to find out it was closed because a pipe burst in one of the bathrooms. Well that would’ve been good to find out earlier in the day! At least she can use the day to catch up on some of her designs. She had this one design for an evening dress that popped into her head one day, it looked so beautiful. And then Jagged Stone also decided he wanted something to market his croc with, so she also needs to make that…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, she did have a lot on her plate still. So silver lining, maybe?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Marinette, you’re back early!” Her mother called out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah they cancelled school. Apparently a pipe burst or something so they cancelled school for the day. I’m going to my room to work on my designs, I’m a bit behind schedule.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alrighty Marinette, just make sure to take a break every once in a while.” Her mother called as she ran up the stairs. “And make sure to help out in the bakery every so often!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright mom!” She called back. It was simple enough, she just had to come down once or twice to make dough or some other thing. But she could spend most of today working on her designs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take her long to slip into her own world, sketching, drawing, writing things down, asking Tikki for the occasional piece of advice. (She knew a thing or two about design, as the Kwami of creation).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She alternated between helping out in the bakery and working on her projects. It was a surprisingly quiet day, something she sorely needed in her life. Even Hawk Moth (Gabriel Agreste) didn’t send out any akumas today. Just before dinner, she finally sat down on her couch. It felt so </span>
  <em>
    <span>relaxing</span>
  </em>
  <span> just to take a break for even a half-hour. Of course that’s not what she got, and she almost immediately went to her phone to check her contacts, just to make sure everything was set.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But before she could do that, there was a crashing sound. Ugh, of course Hawk Moth would send out an akuma today. Why not? She didn’t even have a chance to eat dinner. She sent a quick text to his mom and dad about not wanting to come down for dinner, and quickly transformed into Ladybug.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“So what’s your plan for the future?” Nino asked him. “I mean, dude, it’s not like you can go to school anytime in the future.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know.” He replied, flopping back down on the bed in the guest room. “I didn’t expect to be in this situation. I mean, back when Lila first transferred, I found a book in my father’s safe about superheroes, and me and Ladybug thought he could be Hawk Moth, but then he akumatized </span>
  <em>
    <span>himself…</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you didn’t think that was possible.” Nino concluded. “Yeah, it makes sense. Hey, did you want to play something, get your mind off things?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you have to go to class? I don’t want to prevent you from going to school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nino waved his hand. “Apparently a pipe burst in the school and classes are cancelled for the day. So yeah, that’s not a problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well in that case, you’re going down Nino.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Turns out that Nino had been practicing, and pulled off some moves he had only seen Marinette use, and some that even she would probably be impressed by. Although that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a few tricks of his own. Like this one glitch, if he can just pull it off…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell?” Nino yelled out as his health bar went down to zero as he was stunned in place. “Where did you learn that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Max told me about it. He told me it was situational, and almost never happens. Guess I got lucky.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still, that took some serious skill dude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But his father still was causing trouble even when he was gone, because before they could start the next game, there was the telltale alert on his phone of an akuma alert. Really?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks like your old man is still sending out akumas. Go on and save the city, Chat Noir.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Negative emotions pop up everywhere. It’s a reality of the modern world. Anger, frustration, annoyance, all of these things can be exploited, twisted, manipulated. Once you have someone who has enough negative emotions that they don’t care about aiding a villain, the promise of power and revenge was enough to push them over the edge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, now that the heroes knew who he really was (The odds of his son </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>telling Ladybug is close to zero), he needed to find out the identity of Ladybug as soon as he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So that’s why he was standing here, in his observatory, searching for negative emotions. Paris was so full of negative emotions, but he needed to find the right one. He needed to find something powerful enough to make a half-decent akuma. It was a waiting game, he needed to be patient.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took him a while, but he found an emotion that fit. It was a rare emotion, so rare and powerful, like a treasured jewel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone thinking they can trust their family with coming out, but in the end they’re cast out, betrayed by the people that raised them. A perfect storm of anger and betrayal,  a perfect target for one of my little akumas.” Like so many times before, he activated an akuma. “Fly away my little Akuma, and evilize this betrayed soul.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The akuma flew out into the streets of Paris, and in no time at all, it reached the woman’s backpack, entering it. He felt the potential powers for this particular akuma, searching through until he found the perfect one. Forcing people to reveal their darkest secrets. Perfect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Secret Spiller, I am Hawk Moth. You trusted your family with one of your deepest secrets, and they didn’t accept you. But everyone has their secrets, do they not? Well, I’m giving you the power to force people to reveal those secrets. But in return, I need for you to retrieve Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculouses.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>the satisfaction coming off of the woman in waves. This was the perfect power for her it seemed.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I won’t let you down, Hawk Moth.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The transformation was quick, and soon the woman was cloaked in robes of a deep blood red, and a staff she twirled expertly like she used it all her life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now it was time for more waiting. He didn’t expect this Akuma to win either, but it was a battle of attrition at this point. He really should be focused on finding the Guardian, but that’ll come later. He only needs to win once, and he’s achieved the first step of his eventual plan. Patience is the main key to using the butterfly miraculous, after all.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“I secretly love dancing!” One very large and buff guy, skin glowing pink, exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I cheated on my husband with his nephew.” A woman that’s smartly dressed in a formal-looking suit, whose skin was also glowing pink, forced out, after trying to hold it in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This particular akuma had a staff that fired off pink and purple twisted, braided beams. When the beams hit people, they started to glow pink and start admitting embarrassing things about themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was currently crouched behind a chimney, observing the akuma’s actions. For a more psychological-based Akuma, she was moving pretty fast, and the bolts fired from the top of the staff were moving even faster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The akuma was also laughing. It wasn’t a normal laugh, it was a manic, crazed laugh, continuing on for far longer than “Normal”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lies and deceit are the brick and mortar of society!” The Akuma yelled out. “I’m going to tear it all down!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She then fired off more shots, each and every one landing on a person, who started speaking about their most embarrassing secrets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He heard the familiar retracting sound of Ladybug’s yo-yo, and seconds later she was right beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This akuma’s shooting bolts that force people to reveal secrets. This is probably a plot to try to find out your secret identity or where I’m hiding.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So just don’t get hit? Sounds like a plan. Anything else you observed?” Ladybug asked from beside him. “We need a plan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well this particular lady is pretty quick on her feet, so we definitely should be too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apparently the akuma also had super hearing, because as it approached, it immediately whipped its head in their direction, and without hesitation shot three bolts in their direction. Those bolts are </span>
  <em>
    <span>fast</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and she can shoot them out rapidly, which forced him to duck and dodge behind cars, barriers, and whatever else he could find as a barrier. The bolts do no damage whatsoever to anything that’s not human, so whatever barrier he can find would work. For example, he threw a discarded soda can in the way of one of the beams.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your truth beams are deflected by trash!” He exclaimed, throwing another soda can in the path of the beam. “Hey M-Ladybug, you can block the beams with trash and stuff!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug yelled out, and he saw out of the corner of her eye that the Lucky Charm summoned a pen and pad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can use that pen and pad to write down your confessions! For I am Secret Spiller, and you will confess all of your secrets, and then hand over your miraculouses!” The now-identified Secret Spiller exclaimed, before shooting off a dozen bolts that twisted and turned together until it was in a giant sphere, that then fired off in a ring. Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>of course</span>
  </em>
  <span> the akuma had a wide ranged attack. Thankfully the ring was easy to jump over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cats are pretty agile, Secret Spiller, it’ll take more than that to pin this cat down.” He said, dodging another beam sent his way. Good, he was distracting the akuma so Ladybug could do something. Which she did by using the pad to write down some more “innocent” secrets, which distracted the akuma long enough for Ladybug to push the Akuma in his direction. That made his job easier. “Cataclysm!” He yelled out, and the destructive energy formed around his hand and made contact with the backpack, the only thing on the Akuma that was out of place. The backpack turned to dust, and the purple butterfly flew out, which Ladybug captured and then used the Miraculous cure to restore the damage (which was minimal).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A drone, hovering above the battle, watching Ladybug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“M’Lady!” He yelled out, pointing to the drone. “Over there!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ladybug noticed what he pointed to immediately, and used her yo-yo to bring it down, and then a second one that he hadn’t seen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks like we found out how Hawkmoth found out, but looks like we brought down his eyes in the sky. Stay safe m’lady.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And with that, they took off in different directions.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Leave a comment! Or don't. IDC.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Double Agent</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Nooroo, dark wings fall.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the detransformation flowed over him, he went back into his atelier. This Akuma had failed to reveal the secrets he desired. Hopefully Nathalie’s drones had been more successful. The fall season was coming up, and that meant another fashion show, and potentially another try for Style Queen. Style Queen had been one of the most powerful akumas he’s ever made. If he could get a second try at that masterpiece, she would surely win.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The emotions are likely to be stronger the second time around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, that’s not for a couple of weeks, and he has already finalized his designs. Although maybe he could ask Miss Dupain-Cheng if she had any advice. He still had to keep up appearances for his brand. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [18:24]: </b>
  <span>The duo found out about my eyes, I didn’t see anything new.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [18:25]: </b>
  <span>A shame.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [18:25]: </b>
  <span>We can plan for tomorrow though.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nathalie Sancoeur [18:27]: </b>
  <span>Alright. I have an appointment for Marinette Dupain-Cheng at 1400 tomorrow afternoon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Please be reasonable with HM business.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gabriel Agreste [18:28]: </b>
  <span>I know how to limit myself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had been planning to send out an Akuma during that time, as he had a meeting at 10 that would likely run late. (conversations with Jake Diagarian tended to go on long. The guy was a fashion genius, and was even threatening to push away Audrey Bourgeois as the top fashion icon in the world, despite dressing like a hobo half the time.) And then there’s the gala that he’s pretty much forced to attend at 1930. Apparently some of his other employees wanted him to pick up the pace. Which he did to keep up appearances. So maybe he wouldn’t be sending out an akuma tomorrow, as much as he wanted to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes I think I should take a vacation for a couple of weeks, just so I can send out a bunch of Akumas to overwhelm the heroes.” He said to no one in particular. “The heroes are people too, and soon enough they would get overwhelmed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A wise idea, sir.” Nathalie said, walking in the room. “I’ll have more drones ready by next week, I’ll see if I can arrange something for you in the future.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before, he’d be worried that someone might overhear. Before all of this, he’d actually been considering telling Adrien about his plan for quite some time, even before he knew about Adrien being Chat Noir. That surprised him, he definitely hadn’t been expecting his son to have a miraculous. To think that one-half of what he needed had been in his house this entire time…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, don’t focus on the past, think to the future. You’ll get your chance soon, just be patient.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>He’d decided it would be a good idea for them to meet up once in a while just to plan what their future plans were going to be. It was a simple matter for him to sneak out (it barely could be called sneaking out anyways), get to a place that Plagg did a once-over to check for security cameras (an alleyway barely half a kilometer from Nino’s place), and then transform. Hopefully Ladybug took similar precautions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had a set of pre-arranged meeting places, the particular one they were using was Place 43, the roof of a recently abandoned set of townhouses on the intersection of two not-often-travelled streets. He arrived a couple of minutes before his set time, but Ladybug was already there, a bag of croissants from her parents’ bakery in front of her. She looked deep in thought, like she was thinking about something, about to make a difficult decision.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the issue M’Lady?” He asked, as he landed on the roof and then sat down in front of her. “Cat got your tongue?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know- It’s- Let me just get straight to the point.” Ladybug (or was she Marinette like this?) finally got out. “I have a meeting with your father, Hawk Moth, tomorrow at 1400, apparently it’s about my designs. I don’t know if I should go or not, because if it works out, then I’ll be working for him! And then I’ll have to worry about him finding out I’m Ladybug every time we meet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was a lot to process. If she wasn’t Ladybug, this would be a golden opportunity for her career, but still…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I say go for it.” He said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What! Why?” Ladybug asked, seemingly surprised at his response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think about it this way Bugaboo, when you’re in the meeting, he won’t be able to send out an Akuma, and you could use it as a way to figure out where he’s hiding his miraculous. Also, it’ll help out your civilian career, and even your secret identity. He wouldn’t expect Ladybug to work under him, especially willingly, it’s the perfect disguise!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I was thinking that when you were in that meeting, I could sneak into his safe and steal the peacock miraculous back. I know it’s broken but maybe the Guardian can repair it. And even if he can’t, that means that he’ll be down to only the butterfly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s too risky!” Ladybug blurted out. “You might get caught!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Relax, I know how to sneak around. Cats are good at being quiet, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, but be safe, okay kitty?” Ladybug sighed. “Operation feather is on!”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>She looked up at the intimidating walls of the Agreste mansion. The email from Adrien’s father (and Hawk Moth, a small but noticeable part of her brain reminded her), said to meet him in the office, which was a room just from the entrance. Every single nerve was on edge, and she almost tripped on her feet walking up to the camera by the front gate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The camera activated, coming out of the wall. She was a couple of minutes earlier, nervousness making her head over faster than normal. Every so often, she had to stop herself from reaching up and feeling her ears to make sure her Ladybug earrings were still there. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>felt</span>
  </em>
  <span> them on her ears, but that wasn’t enough to reassure herself it seemed. Tikki had told her time and time again that she was doing the right thing, a chance for them to gain a crucial advantage against Hawk Moth, one step closer to taking back his miraculous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here to see Mr. Gabriel Agreste.” She said, with more confidence than she felt. Her designs and sketches in a handled folder that she was carrying with her. She had even shoved in a concept piece, just in case. She’s nervous, because not only is she walking into the lair of a supervillain, this is going to impact her civilian career as well. This could be her in to some of the big names in fashion!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had been in the mansion before, sometimes as Ladybug, sometimes as Marinette, but this is the first time she’s explicitly been invited. Her memory went to some of Mr. Agreste’s designs, and there were a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> of butterflies in them. And purple and black. Something she wasn’t expecting looking back. If it hadn’t been for Hawk Moth akumatizing himself, then they would’ve gotten him months ago. But they eventually did manage to confirm it, so at least that was good. She resisted the urge to check to see if she had her Ladybug earrings (yet again.) and knocked on the door to the office.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had passed Adrien’s bodyguard (although he’s probably Hawk Moth or Mr. Agreste’s bodyguard at this point), and she gave him a nod and he nodded back, so she supposed he’d been notified she was arriving. She knocked on the door, hesitating a second before actually doing it. She was nervous, okay?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in.” A stern voice that was again, surprisingly similar to Hawk Moth’s (now that the mirage from the miraculous magic was gone, she could easily perceive how similar the two of them were. And she knew that Mr. Agreste very rarely left his mansion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pushed open the door to reveal a well-designed office. There was a very old-looking heavy wooden desk with gold trim that had a computer and various stacks of papers on it. Mr. Agreste was sitting in a fancy padded swivel chair (as fancy as a swivel chair could get). In front of the desk was another chair, also padded, that was pointed in the direction of the desk. Her nerves kept her from tripping over her own feet somehow, and she sat in the seat, holding the folder with her portfolio in it on her lap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see you brought a portfolio with you.” Mr. Agreste said after a bit of pause, looking up from her computer. “Could I take a look at them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She handed over the portfolio hesitantly. Every moment she was in this office, sitting not two meters from a supervillain who had akumatized almost everyone in her class, save for herself and Adrien, as well as who knows how many civilians.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked through the folder at all the drawings, concepts, and even the live piece she had brought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These look good. I’ll give you a call back if I need a commission from you. However, for now, I would like to hire you on as a contractor.” He handed her a sheet of paper, a contract. “Please review this and sign it. If you wish to take it home and have someone else review it, you have 24 hours to put it back in the mailbox.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take it back with me.” She said after a while. “I’m not good with all of this legal stuff. Is there anything else you need from me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you are free to leave.” Mr. Agreste said. And then there was a blipping noise, which she recognized as the group call service Akito, auto-accepting a call.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Hey, butterfly man!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>She heard just as she closed the door to the office, which made her freeze. Who else knows about Gabriel Agreste being Hawk Moth?</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>It was a simple task. Get into his father’s atelier, get to the safe, grab the peacock miraculous, and then exit. Easy. He can slip in and out in less than a minute. He watched as Marinette walked into his father’s mansion. That’s his sign to start his mission. Nathalie was away helping with the business, so the mansion was as empty as it would ever get. He wasn’t as experienced with opening the windows to the atelier as the windows to his room, but he could still get them open silently pretty quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whenever he wants to be stealthy, he can move without a sound. It must be some sort of side benefit of the transformation, because he’s generally not that quiet of a person normally. But he snuck over to the painting of his mother and opened it. The safe was there, as secure as ever</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cataclysm.” He whispered, and then placed his hand on the safe, the door disintegrating away, revealing several keepsakes and important things, and then he spotted it. The peacock miraculous. He grabbed it, put it in one of his pockets, and closed the door that was also a painting of his mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He quietly sneaked out, and put the window back in its place. Mission accomplished. One miraculous down, one to go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You managed to retrieve the peacock miraculous?” Master Fu asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had explained everything to him. It had taken the two of them an hour to explain and convince him to not take his and Marinette’s miraculouses. Maybe presenting the guardian with the peacock miraculous smoothed the message over a little bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but it looks all cracked.” He said, looking over the miraculous. It looked like the back feathers of a peacock, nine of them, but there were massive cracks running down it and every so often it started to glitch and temporarily distort. Yeah that’s not what a normal miraculous does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Master Fu grabbed it from him, and then looked at it closely. “It’s damaged. I think I can repair it, but it’ll take some time. Probably months. Thank you for retrieving this Ladybug and Chat Noir. We just dealt a severe blow to Hawk Moth, alongside with definitively uncovering his identity. We’re one step closer to facing him down in public and retrieving his miraculous for all of Paris to see.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Antimeme</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Maya Adrielle! Maya Adrielle! Maya Adrielle!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cheering voices greeted her as she walked off her plane. The crowds were already being held back by the police (courtesy of Andre, one of her close friends, which was why she’s going to stay at the hotel Grand Paris), but she could still hear them. She had a very recognizable hair tie that everyone recognized her with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew she was a famous actress, but she wasn’t expecting this big of a crowd. It felt like half of Paris was here at the airport! The crowd continued as she got into the limo from the airport, going down the street from the airport to the Hotel Grand Paris (thank goodness the streets were closed because otherwise there would be so many cars crowding around her limo there would be a car crash every single time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully she managed to get to her hotel room easy enough, but she realized that she could never leave the hotel in her two weeks stay. Ugh! She did like the life of fame and fortune, but it was so exhausting sometimes. Yes, she was well aware that this was the pinnacle of a rich person problem, and that like 99.9999% of the people in the world were far far worse off then she was, but still…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She really did want to get away from it all. She couldn’t use a disguise, because she hadn’t really brought disguise pieces. What else could she possibly do?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she was mired in her thoughts, she heard a crash from her window. That’s when she saw a </span>
  <em>
    <span>grappling hook</span>
  </em>
  <span> embedded into the wall. She looked out over the window, and saw people start to erect ladders, more grappling hooks, and just starting to scale the walls. She knew she had some crazy fans, but this looked like a castle siege (from the movie Zharazhad. Or Akuda’s Escalation. Either one fits here). She ran back out of her room, and into the hallway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her phone was in her hand and calling Andre within a few seconds, the mayor picked up after another few seconds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Help, Andre, your hotel is under siege. Get me a helicopter or </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> out of here!” She screeched into her phone. She heard crashing noises, yelling, and some sort of discharge of gas. What was happening?</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m sorry, Maya, but there are some crazy fans on the rooftop, I wouldn't recommend going that way at the moment.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh. Andre. </span>
  <em>
    <span>DO SOMETHING!!</span>
  </em>
  <span> I don’t care what. This is insanity! Send in the police! The army! The heroes of Paris!” (Oh yeah, did she mention she played Ladybug in one of the latest movies?) “Please, just do something, anything!”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’ll do my best Maya.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> And then the mayor hung up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ugh! Thank goodness the Hotel was pretty huge, so sneaking around it was pretty easy. But she really hated the fact that she was forced to do such things. Such rabid fans! When did she get such a toxic fanbase? She never really interacted with her fans before, but she knew from talking to her actor friends that this was far, far from normal. None of her actor friends have ever had rabid fans bring grappling hooks or ladders to do who-knows-what.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why did she have to be in the public eye? Why couldn’t she just escape?</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Nooroo, dark wings rise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had felt a strong emotion, and he finally managed to eke out some spare time, </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> Nathalie’s drones had come early. This was the perfect chance to akumatize someone, and this strong emotion he felt was perfect for what he needed to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone famous wanting some peace and quiet from rabid fans? A very familiar emotion, but still very strong. Adding in fear for their own life, and it results in the ideal target for my akumas.” He held out a gloved hand, and after a couple of seconds a white butterfly landed in his palm. He covered the butterfly with his second hand, and pressed energy into it. Releasing his hand revealed a black butterfly with dark purple markings, like all the other times he’s tried (and failed).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fly away my little akuma, and evilize this scared soul!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The akuma unerringly flew to the Hotel Grand Paris, where the actress was there, hiding in a closet. It made contact with the fancy hair tie she was wearing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Antimeme, I am Hawk Moth. You’re surrounded by rabid fans who remember every detail about you? Well I’ll give you the power to disappear from everyone’s memories when they don’t see you. In return for this exceptional power, I would like for you to retrieve some things for me. Ladybug’s earrings and A- Chat Noir’s ring. Do we have a deal, Antimeme?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Of course, Hawk Moth. Unlike everyone else, I’ll remember this little deal of ours.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Unlike most of the other Akumas, this one had less of a dramatic transformation. Her high-end dress was transformed into what someone might wear as casual clothes, except they were a dull grey. Her skin and hair were a different shade of dark grey, but she slowly half-blended into the background to the point it was difficult to look at her directly. The most perfect design for this particular Akuma’s powerset.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This akuma was far out from most anything he had created before, so it would most likely give the Heroes quite a bit of trouble. Memory-based Akumas were as rare as gold, but they were massively powerful. This one in particular had the greatest chance of success, because of its particular powers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he has to do is wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanted to have a peaceful weekend, but it looks like her employer had different plans. There was an akuma alert on her phone, and the picture she saw was of a sort-of normal-dressed, but was a bit difficult to look at, she had to focus a bit more than normal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the alert was twenty minutes ago, and there wasn’t any sort of crashing or buildings destroyed or yelling noises. So maybe it was a more subtle akuma, similar to Silencer. Still, it was time for Ladybug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tikki, I think it’s time for Ladybug.” She said, and the Kwami in question floated out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tikki, spots on!”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Hey Nino, did you get better at Mecha Strike over the past few weeks? Because you got way better over time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah dude, I discovered I was really good at XC-4, I don’t know it just meshes with my playing style.” He replied. It was so cool seeing Adrien be able to be himself more now that his old man’s not in the picture that much. He knew Adrien’s old man wasn’t a good person, that much was obvious enough, but the fact that the guy was Hawk Moth? The same supervillain that had been terrorizing Paris for almost a year now? It was almost hard to believe, but Adrien had explained everything. The secret basement room, Adrien’s mom in some sort of suspended animation chamber, in a state of eternal sleep apparently. Is she dead? That sounds like Adrien’s mom is dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, he’d do the best he could for his best friend, help him forget his terrible family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well as much as you’ve improved, you’re still not… going to… beat me!” Adrien exclaimed, as he got trapped, which allowed Adrien to quickly drain his life and it was game over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn, I’m forgetting about how serious your skills are dude.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when Plagg floated out of wherever the Kwami was hiding (The cat Kwami was able to phase through objects so who knows). “What? I’m going to be staying here for a while, so you might as well get used to seeing me around. Now I’m going to go get some cheese, I’ll be right back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kwami flew downstairs to the cheese fridge. Well from what Adrien told him the black cat Kwami loved cheese for some reason. Wait so </span>
  <em>
    <span>that’s</span>
  </em>
  <span> why Adrien almost always smelled like smelly cheese. He just thought the dude liked the cheese for some reason.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Speaking of Adrien, he looked over and saw the dude in question was just sitting there, deep in thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s on your mind, dude? You look like you’ve got a million thoughts running through your head.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a short pause, where Adrien looked like he was thinking about what he was saying, he spoke up. “Well the thing is, I’m having doubts about being a hero, about opposing my father.” another pause. “I found out the real reason my father became Hawk Moth, and keeps sending out akumas. My mother is somewhere deep inside the mansion, held in a suspended animation chamber of some sort. My father wants the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses to bring my mom back to life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what to do anymore…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, I’m here for you, no matter if you’re Adrien or Chat Noir. And hey, if you could put in a good word for Ladybug for me about keeping my and Alya’s Miraculous for good, I wouldn’t complain.” He decided the best way to get Adrien out of his slump was thinking about something else, at least temporarily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re a hero? And Alya is one too?” Adrien asked incredulously. “No way! Which ones?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Carapace, dude. And Alya’s Rena Rouge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously? Like legit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Like I said dude, I’ll be there for you in and out of costume.” He said. And then his and Adrien’s phones both rang out with an akuma alert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go on, be a hero dude, just make sure to put in a good word for me and Alya.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry Nino, I got this. Doesn’t seem like something too dangerous. Plagg, claw-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” Nino said, stopping his friend. “Remember the transformation spots?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh right, sorry Nino. I forgot I need to be a bit more careful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No worries dude, that’s why I’m here.”</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Why had he transformed into Chat Noir?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was about 3:37pm in the afternoon, so it wasn’t his usual patrol times with Ladybug, and not when he just transformed and ran through Paris at night for comfort. So the only thing that it could be was an Akuma. But he didn’t remember getting an Akuma alert on his phone, and most of the crowds just seem to be business as usual. Although, not every Akuma was the type that destroyed Paris, transformed mass amounts of people, or sent people running. Some, like Silencer, were much more subtle in their powersets, relying on stealth and planning to try to steal their miraculouses. Honestly, if Mar-Ladybug’s plan had failed, or she hadn’t gotten lucky with Silencer using her own voice for saying “Lucky Charm”, who knows what would’ve happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyway, enough about past akumas, he had to worry about this upcoming Akuma that he may or may not remember.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He heard the familiar sounds of Ladybug’s yo-yo, and a second later the hero herself was standing beside him, looking as confused as she felt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Same problem, don’t know why you transformed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” She replied. “I mean, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> there’s an Akuma somewhere, but I don’t know where it is! It doesn’t look like there’s an Akuma, and I don’t remember an Akuma, but I think there’s one. Oh!” She exclaimed suddenly. “I think there’s a memory-affecting Akuma, like Oblivio! We can’t remember things about it for some reason!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So what do we do now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We wait. Unless the Akuma is dealing a lot of damage, which we would notice, we should find somewhere where we can see all approaches. We’ll let the Akuma come to us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A perfect plan as usual, M’Lady!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Anyways, I'm a part of a discord server. https://discord.gg/M9BWvKY. Join if you want. Or don't. Idc.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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